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The South Koreans are about to see the PlayStation 3 launched in their nation, and they're getting a treat the rest of the world will have to wait on: a PS3 with an 80 gig hard drive. Meanwhile, NPD numbers show that the company's games division suffered greatly during April, likely as a result of few titles released during that month. "Though the company saw a bump in PSP sales, Nintendo DS continues to curb stomp the portable PlayStation. More disappointing, however, must have been seeing PlayStation 3 decline in sales of almost 50,000 units between March and April ... If April was tough, May looks bleaker. Karraker wouldn't speculate on sales, but outside of MLB 07: The Show's release at the end of April, there are no first-party releases coming to PS3 in May. In fact, there are only two May PS3 games period: Surf's Up and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Both are multi-platform releases."

Sony's stock overall just hit a five year high due to their exceeding sales in other departments. Wonder if that 80 GB PS3 will come over here? Guess it doesn't matter that much, as you can purchase your own drives to put in the PS3.

Sony's stock overall just hit a five year high due to their exceeding sales in other departments.

That's not really correct. Sony's stock raised after the electronics maker forecast a six-fold jump in annual profit on sales of LCD TVs and expectations for smaller losses in its game division.
Reuters article here [reuters.com]

Actually 60GB to 80GB is not that much but looking at the 60GB to 20GB which is now defunct and not available in EU, UK, Australia and New Zealand it is unlikely that the US much less the world sees the 80GB PS3 anytime soon. In many ways this is not that much of a big deal. If you want a larger PS3 disk then go out an buy a 120GB or 160GB notebook drive and replace your PS3's disk with it then put the PS3's 60GB drive in a slimline case as a portable drive. You have win-win situation here.The reason why I

What I've found interesting is that I've been reading a lot of news about upcoming PS3 releases recently, (not necessarily releases coming this month of course.) Conversely, it seems that news about the Wii have been tapering off - certainly from what the volume when it was first released. xbox360 news seems to have been holding steady.

This is, of course, an entirely subjective observation. Anyone care to corroborate or counter what I've noticed?

However: Nintendo announced its (and a few 3rd party titles as well) Summer release schedule, and during this or before (I've forgotten) we found that Smash Bros, Galaxies, and Metroid are still set to ship this year:D

I have a PS3 and a 360. On the PS3 side, there's not a single game I like. I didn't even enjoy Resistance. However, it's a great BD player. Still glad I bought it. But the 360 has the games. I just bought Command and Conquer 3 and _it rocks_. And, of course, there's Dead Rising and Gears to keep me entertained too.

He's just a shitty troll. A good troll wouldn't have used hot words like "xbot" or written such a long and convoluted post. Sad, really. The anti-trolling efforts at/. have driven away the funny trolls, leaving us with nothing to laugh at but the lamest of the lame.

Here's to a Naked and Petrified Natalie Portman, along with a bowl of hot grits!

The reduction in scope of E3 (and delaying it until later in the year) has had an unintended consequence of every major publisher doing their own micro conference in May to release information about the second half of the year.

Sony did their Gamer's Day press conference last week (or the week before, I really can't remember) and many third parties joined in on releasing a lot of information about upcomming PS3/PSP games... There was something like 40 games announced with details being released over the days following the conference.

Nintendo is doing a very similar conference today and tomorow and will (likely) have a similar number of titles announced.

Even without new titles, if you check out release dates the Wii has roughly the same number of titles announced until the end of the year as the PS3. The main difference is the Wii has far (FAR) more titles being released before September than the PS3 does; it is hypothetically possible that the Wii's (post september) line-up will grow at Nintendo's conference, E3 and TGS until it is far greater than the PS3's (post september) line-up.

Not only is the third party Wii library a joke but the big first party titles like Metroid are looking like crap. No wonder the only thing you hear from Wii owners is my Wii is gathering dust and I haven't touched the thing in months.

Give the bullshit a rest troll.

Poor Anonymous Coward Sony Fanboy Troll...

You used to at least talk about how great the PS3 was before you bashed the Wii, have things gotten so dark for the PS3 that even you can

Right here [google.com]. You're correct regarding Wii's decline, but it's a decline from the massive surge of news about how Wii won the console war. And it's still far ahead of the other two, with Sony predictably languishing in third place

Yeah, who at Sony do I have to contact in order to get paid to spam Slashdot? Personally, I think I'm predestined for the job. I think my lies and "arguments" would be much more coherent than your stupid ramblings.

I think the Wii will probably slow down. The problem with the Wii isn't actually with the Wii. It is with the third party developers that are now targeting it. They are going to make games that are worthless compared to what Nintendo puts out. This will make people buy less third party Wii games (and indeed, since more Wii owners are casual, they will buy less games per console). Third party developers will run back to Sony since they don't have to compete with Nintendo and the people who own a PS3 are going to buy more games per console.

Also, the Wii will probably have to have a shorted lifecycle than the PS3. It just doesn't have the power for AI or graphics. While those elements don't have anything to do with fun...a lot of developers do want to have more capability and the Wii is going to be limited to more casual games. This isn't a criticism of the Wii...I am glad Nintendo viewed next gen as how you control the game and that MS and Sony viewed next gen as power and HD. I just think the Wii is going to lose steam as soon as third party vendors realize they won't sell as many games on the Wii and that they are limited by the older hardware. And this isn't really speculation...this has happened on every Nintendo console (i.e. Third parties peform poorly compared to first party games in sales more than on other platforms)

As a side note, I find it interesting how many people love the Wii on here compared to the gamers I know in real life. A lot of them don't like the Wii because they feel the controller isn't responsive enough. Most don't want one and are happy with just their 360. The PS3 has nothing worth buying it for so they just mainly 360 and PC game. Maybe my friends are in the minority or maybe posts that don't claim Wii as the second coming of christ just don't get modded up!

No shit the Wii will have a short lifecycle, but you say that as if it's a bad thing.

Two years from now, we'll be treated to a WiiHD (or whatever) that's just as powerful as the PS3 and 360, but at half the cost.

You really think the Wii was MADE to last for 8-12 years, like the 360 and PS3? By the time Sony is financially able to justify a PS4, we'll be on Nintendo's 3rd console of the generation... guess who'll have the huge graphic-to-price advantage, then?

Now, if one is a 3rd party game developer, pondering what platform to support, what would one draw from that?I love the Wii, and am not interested in getting a PS3. But if/when I did get a PS3, I would bulk up my library with PS3 titles for the next several years. I'm probably going to be happy with a pretty small library of Wii games. Kudos to Nintendo for thinking about play-experience over game-as-media, resulting in a product that's more, erm, fun, but that's not going to spur a lot of 3rd party develop

Possibly... the PS2s library suddenly became amazing in the last year or so, before that, I was actually pretty discontent with it. But at the 11th hour, they proved to have one of the absolutely strongest libraries of any console in history, with maybe only the SNES and POSSIBLY the PS1 ahead. The XBox360 is starting to look mighty good right now, and this coming from an old guard PS2 and GameCube/Wii fan. But I'm really excited about the Wii games coming out, especially the new Chrystal Chronicals, which,

I honestly wonder how successful Crystal Chronicles could be. The GC version was... okay, but the music and game play is extremely repetitive and I can no longer play the game for more than 10 minutes unless with friends. Even then, it is difficult because the spell casting mechanics are very awkward. If the Wii version simplifies this, and includes a better soundtrack then I'm sure to enjoy it.

The Wii version is absolutely NOTHING like the original GC game. They already had a interview with some of the guys at S-E, and the details suggested that it would be an almost 180 degree change from the first: completely different style, non-repeatitive gameplay, a fully, epic story, no "pot". The way it was described made it sound like a cross between Zelda and Skies of Arcadia, when I heard that... I had to put on a new pare of pants.The DS version looks to be slightly more similar, but again, no pot, sm

You really think the Wii was MADE to last for 8-12 years, like the 360 and PS3? By the time Sony is financially able to justify a PS4, we'll be on Nintendo's 3rd console of the generation... guess who'll have the huge graphic-to-price advantage, then?

Hell yes it was made to last that long. Nintendo is notorious for trying to spin its consoles as not requiring an upgrade for a very long while. Nintendo longs for the days of the NES and Game Boy, where they could just sit back and collect the licensing f

I think the third party theory has pretty much been debunked. Third party titles of outstanding quality sell deservedly well for the most part. It's up to the third party to develop a quality title, that is also appealing.Some Nintendo games have totally flopped, but typically they do well, because typically, they are high quality games.

I'm 99.9% sure I remember hearing third parties happy with their sales on the Wii this past holiday...

Anyhow, I do agree that it's debatable whether the Wii will continue to

PS: On a side note, you discuss processing power and implications to AI. Do you know of any titles that would be limited in AI due to the Wii's processing? I can't think of any, and always had my doubts about AI being a bullet behind the pros of better hardware. Better theoretical AI maybe:-P

All I know is that the AI in Wii Sports Tennis still beats the crap out of me. Probably has more to do with me sucking, though.

But seriously, AI in games indeed isn't where all the cycles go into. It's the graphics. Bu

The more complicated the AI, the more processing it requires. This isn't a big deal when you are dealing with one AI...but add multiple AIs and it quickly becomes difficult. At a certain point, the Wii is going to have to have simpler AI or less AI in the field at one time or it will have issues (this only matters on cross platform titles). To site an example, the developer of Spore blasted the Wii for this. He felt the lack of power on the Wii handcuffed his ability to make the game the way he wanted.

They are going to make games that are worthless compared to what Nintendo puts out.

Do you mean to say that Nintendo is going to have the best games?? I hardly think that will cause the Wii to slow down.

I just think the Wii is going to lose steam as soon as third party vendors realize they won't sell as many games on the Wii and that they are limited by the older hardware.

If the Wii becomes the dominant console nobody is going to abandon it. Look at how quickly 3rd parties took notice of wii and ramped up wii game production once it became obvious that it was selling far beyond expectations. They didn't all leak their brains out and forget that competing on nintendo means competing with nintendo... they KNOW what they're dealing with. They've got the same history you do.

But they know that supporting the dominant console will pay off.

and the people who own a PS3 are going to buy more games per console.

Only relevant if they buy enough more to make up for the fact that there are less of them.

(And if the games are 'worthless' compared to what nintendo releases, I'd hope even a PS3 owner would stay the hell away from them.)

As for limited by the older hardware? The ONLY situation that is going to affect is that it gets even harder to make lousy multi-platform ports on the cheap. Losing the 'Lousy ports' isn't going to harm the platform.

Also, the Wii will probably have to have a shorted lifecycle than the PS3. It just doesn't have the power for AI or graphics.

By that logic the Honda civic should have been discontinued by now. And why does anyone buy a handheld when all they do is let us play last generation games technology? Seriously. Yes, its 'limiting', but entertainment value per dollar is high. As long as that can be sustained the system will do well.

Just look at the popularity of the virtual console.

I find it interesting how many people love the Wii on here compared to the gamers I know in real life.

Comparing the/. audience to 'gamers' is a little goofy don't you think. There's a lot of us here on slashdot that aren't 'gamers', but who enjoy games.

so they just mainly 360 and PC game

Seems pretty redundant to buy two boxes for that.

And furthermore, if your own 'real world group' has already self-selected into 'gamers who play 360 + PC games' do you really think THEY are representative of the larger audience for the Wii?

Ah, so much to respond to. Yes, Nintendo makes the best games for Nintendo consoles. This has always been true and part of the reason why third parties do so poorly on their systems. Just look at the Gamecube.

Yes, third parties see the Wii as selling well so they get a bunch of people who don't know crap about making games on the Wii and put them on the project. At least initially, the third party games are going to be horrible since they ignored the Wii before and don't have experience making games wi

You can't fit a current consoles power in the palm of your hand. In order to play games on a handheld, they have to be last gen (or last last gen) because you can't make a portable as powerful as current gen yet.

That isn't the point. The point is there is a thriving market for games made using 'last gen' and 'last last gen' technology. Game companies can thrive in any environment.

I am talking about gamers. A lot of Slashdotters are gamers. I don't know about you, but I don't distinguish between the two. You

But false? Only in terms of game exclusivity, and that's an entirely artificial difference.

No it's not. If you want to play a certain game and it exists only under one console (or PC) you're going to buy that fucking game along with the console. You're not going to say "Well, I already own a PC. If I buy an X-box that would be redudant because and X-Box and PC have the same hardware." Give me a break, console's always were similar to PC's. Just because one console is more similar to a PC than another doesn't make it all of the sudden redundant.

Precisely. Your talking about 'gamers'. A lot of people on slashdot aren't gamers at all, nevermind casual gamers. And on the flipside, a lot of gamers have never heard of slashdot. The two groups aren't one in the same.

Precisely. Your talking about 'gamers'. A lot of people on slashdot aren't gamers at all, nevermind casual gamers. And on the flipside, a lot of gamers have never heard of slashdot. The two groups aren't one in the same.

This may be surprising to you, but a lot of people who read games.slashdot.org are gamers. Many of the people who are super enthusiastic about the Wii are gamers too. It isn't hard to figure out who is a gamer on here by their comments. I was just stating that I see things differently a

Your reading comprehension sucks. The reason those third party titles didn't come out for the cube is because they sell poorly on those system because Nintendo's first party games suck up most of those people's gaming budget.

In general that would only be true if Nintendo's first party games are outright better than those 3rd party titles.Is that really true of even the best 3rd party titles?

The reason they didn't come out for the cube is simply that they knew that wasn't where the demographic for those game

Third party developers will run back to Sony since they don't have to compete with Nintendo

So are you saying Sony doesn't develop any games in-house? Because that's completely wrong. Sony's had over 10 years to grow their development teams (and buy other ones), and they've certainly done that. A cursory glance over their franchise list [wikipedia.org] proves this point handily. So while you are correct that running from a Nintendo platform will free you from "competing" with Nintendo, it also means that you'll end up c

So are you saying Sony doesn't develop any games in-house? Because that's completely wrong. Sony's had over 10 years to grow their development teams (and buy other ones), and they've certainly done that. A cursory glance over their franchise list proves this point handily.

I looked at the franchise list you pointed to, and I didn't find a single franchise that has remotely the same glamour or popularity as Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon, Kirby and Donkey Kong. Competing against Sony with those franchise ce

Actually, there was an article on Slashdot awhile back...it talked about this but I am not finding it right now. I'll try to explain the logic though.

1) The Wii appeals to more casual gamers. Casual gamers, by definition, are ones that don't play games as much. They also tend not to buy many games. In fact, a lot of them would be happy just with Wii Sports and not even pick up another titile. On the other hand, PS3 gamers tend to me more "hardcore". They buy multiple games a year. This has nothing

One day, one days soon, I will wake up and there will be news for the PS3, good news. I fully expect it to be full wiimote support. Or maybe some games. Honestly, all the news we get is "Sony is not doing well, and there really isn't any reason for them to do well in the near future, yadda yadda yadda, blu-ray"

Well, it better be soon. This is the 4th straight month where the GBA has outperformed the PS3 sales-wise in the US. Yes, that's right, a portable SNES is beating the next-gen powerhouse. And things don't look good in Japan either, where it's slumped into to around 8,000 units per week and has fallen far behind the gamecube in terms of pacing. You won't see many new announcements for PS3 stuff from third-parties while it's putting up those kind of numbers. And it's not like there's anything coming out

I don't think announcing the release date of one of the big three (Metroid Prime 3 - August 20th), and updating the smash website from 8 months of dormancy, along with all the composers (to speculate about), counts as "no news". Add to that last weeks announcements about the Chrystal Chronicals series, and you have some pretty big stuff. In fact, this has been Nintendo's most bauntiful few weeks for months.

He didn't say they had shitty graphics, he said they look incredibly shitty. There are ways to look shitty for games than just graphics. When you see a movie trailer and go 'wow that looks shitty', do you really mean the picture quality?

If you compare sales per week for the PS1 PS2 and PS3, PS3 is already outselling the PS1 by 2-3x and its just a 100,000 units or so behind the PS2. Of course, people on forums and such have a selective memory.... they just choose to block all this out.

The PS1 was utter shit for about two years, and the Sony brand wasn't exactly top of the line in home gaming. The PS2 was heavily supply constrained (yay buzzword) for quite some time after launch. I submit that you, sir, have a few memories that you may be repressing in the console "war."

That said, you're all a bunch of babies whining about your favorite console. It's unbelievably entertaining to watch.

Awesome. That means the Wii is going to outperform the PS1 and PS2 by enormous margins, right? Since it's outpacing all three? PS3 is made of brown, bloom and fail no matter how you slice it.I mean, right now, the PS3 is being outsold in the US by the GBA. THE GBA! It's underperforming the gamecube in Japan, hitting sales targets *weeks* after the cube did. And, like the PSP was by the DS, it's being absolutely destroyed by the Wii. And the HD movie market is *NOTHING* compared to the DVD market. It

Outsold in the US, boohoo. Just had one of its best weeks in Europe. Saying a console is doomed several months in is insane. Sure they said it for the PS1 and PS2 but it didnt happen. Will it happen this time? Maybe... but considering PS3 is already leading the 360 in some countries makes me think otherwise... for the moment at least.

From my memories, PS2 was predicted to break records, and did, and PS1 nobody knew what to think because it had to history. I don't see any comparison at all to what was being said in those generations.

Actualy the PS2 was panned as a failure due to low sales and few games and was predicted to be destroyed by the faster Xbox. This is the sorta thing people forget, while the PS1 was an unknown the PS2 was torn to shreds by the gaming "media" and community as a joke. They said oh its to hard to code for, no-one will release games for it, its to expensive, Why include a DVD drive which will just raise the price? Sound familiar?Its true, the PS2 did have low sales the first few years, tho the few games thing

Actually, the PS2 really pulled ahead once it hit the $200 price point. Until then it just kinda lazily sold. It also didn't really have much competition, and god did the first year of it's library suck. *Glares at fantavision* And yea, there were some failure stuff, and a lot of bitter Dreamcast people, but nothing like this. And yea, there were some failure stuff, and a lot of bitter Dreamcast people, but nothing like this.Anyway, it's silly to use the PS2 or PS1 as an indicator for any other console

I don't know where this myth that the PS2 "Started out Slow" came from but it is simply not true...The PS2 was the fastest selling system in Japan over its first year, and was heavily supply limited for its first year in North America and Europe. By the time the Gamecube and XBox were released the PS2 had already sold 20 Million units worldwide (roughly twice as many as the XBox 360 has in the same time frame) and exploded in sales from there due to the release of GTA, MGS2 and FFX.

Jesus Christ, is that what you do all day? Post incoherent fanboy rants to Slashdot? How old are you? Don't you have a job? Go to school?If you spend so much time posting to Slashdot, why don't you at least try to create arguments that don't make you look like a stupid Sony Troll? I mean, you don't even look like you got paid by Sony, because if you got paid for that, I'd expect some better quality in your arguments and writing.

Look, if you want to defend the PS3, don't spout obvious lies like "The most pow

How is that possible? By the time the XBox came out, the PS2 was doing gloriously. FFX pretty much solidified its dominance back in 2001, and all the gaming press I generally heard was possitive. Also, Sony were still the "good guys" back then, with the evil Microsoft looming overhead, and the bastardly Nintendo about to make their move. Also, the PS2 was such a saving grace after what was looking to be the utter failior of the DreamCast (now realized to be largely because of Sony FUD).Now, the tables have

Actualy the PS2 was panned as a failure due to low sales and few games and was predicted to be destroyed by the faster Xbox.

"Low sales": PS2 hit a million within three weeks in Japan, and PS3 has yet to do so in six months. PS2 in the post holiday season was selling 400k per month in North America, compared to Dreamcast's 100k. PS3 by comparison is selling 100k per month compared to the Wii's 300k.

"Few games": The documentation on this isn't very good, but I believe it had more games than any of PS3,

The problem with these armchair analysts was that they were focusing on the wrong things. For instance, they should have focused on perceived market direction from the third parties (EA made almost zero Dreamcast games). Nearly every third party when interviewed said they expected the PS2 to win.

The irony is the third parties expected the PS3 to win. It's hasn't "lost" yet but the Wii sprinted out of the gates while the the PS3 and Xbox trotted. I personally will likely get a wii if there is a game that app

Third parties expected the PS3 to win before finding out it was $599. Post E3 2006 there was a bit of a shift and some companies scrambled to change direction (Ubisoft somehow pumped out eight titles for Wii launch, as an example).

Where are you getting independant sales data for Europe? In the NA we have NPD, and in Japan, Media Create, but there's no real good source for European figures outside the companies themselves, so Europe is a black hole and we largely ignore it. Honestly curious.

I was waiting till late this year or even next year before making a decision if I was going to buy a PS3 or not. Basically with the exception of Oblivion I was not interested in most of the PS3 games although to be honest with the exception of Zelda (love those games) and Metroid is not out yet so I was not interested in the Wii either. As for the Xbox360 I could also say the same.I was out shopping with my son when I noticed Games Wizards (I live in Australia) was offering PS3's (we only have the 60GB vers

but that would only apply if they were released the same year. The GBA is over 5 years old. We're not talking about the GBA-DS, just the GBA.We're making a comparison under these assumptions:

1) You would think that the market for GBAs has been saturated, or that new players (i.e. kids) would opt for a GBA-DS to be able to play games for both systems.2) In otherwords, there is a market comprised late-technology-adopters who are cost sensitive, and are probably buying the units for themselves for the purpose

herefore, the market for the PS3 ("serious gamers") is outsized by poor retro gamers who don't know how to use emulators

In order to (legally) get roms for your emulators, you have to buy a Super NES Game Pak copier. Those are hard to find. Even then, what kind of portable hardware would you run the emulator software on?

One has to remember what Sony's competition was with the PS1 and PS2.Sony has never launched first in a generation. The PS1, PS2 and now PS3 have all launched into a market where at least one other competitor had been around for awhile.

With the PS1, there was the Saturn and the N64. Sega was begining to struggle at that point, and Sony had managed to pick up several developers after Nintendo decided the N64 was going to be cartridge based.

I would argue that such a comparison is invalid. We are all well aware that the gaming industry was much smaller in size and audience in the PS1-release era than it is right now. I don't have any hard data so lets just assume that the gaming market is 4 times larger today than it was back then. Then your outselling the PS1 by 2-3x becomes (2-3x)/4, or 0.5-0.75x. Also IIRC, the PS2 had supply problems and couldn't meet demand very well, so PS2s were rather difficult to find. On the other hand, I see several

I just bought an XBox 360 last week, and the reason wasn't strictly the price, or the anemic selection of games for the PS3. The number one reason that swayed me to the 360 isn't even an official feature: It's backups. Even if there was a workaround for playing backups on the PS3 (and AFAIK, there isn't), the $25 discs make it impractical. Sure it's cheaper than buying another copy, assuming you don't make any coasters, but it's still almost 15 times more than the price of DVD9 discs to make 360 backups.

Having backups on the 360 makes sense, it has issues with its drive but the PS3 has hardcoat on its disks so they wont scratch as easy. But are you backing them up for other reasons? Losing the disk etc?

I have to say your argument is shortsighted. There aren't really any games out right now that truly require the space of a blu-ray disk, but they are coming. What happens when you want to play GTAIV or Final Fantasy XXXX or whatever?And besides - in my 15 years of playing video games on CD, I have never had the need for a backup, ever. I even played my original copy of the Return to Zork just a month ago.

So, I think your real desire here is to pirate video games. Given the success of the Wii and the mo

I know this is going to sound absurd, especially on Slashdot, but some of us have kids. It's not so much a question of if I'll need a backup, but when. I realize that your kids, if they exist, are perfect little angels with perfect little memories, but mine are not.

Also, the Wii has already been chipped -- essentially the same chip as the GC, since it's essentially the same console. I'm not sure how that can be irrelevant, but I applaud your industry insight.

I'd like to see the PS3 succeed for one reason: competition. I don't mean that it necessarily has to dominate the market like the PS2 did, but it needs to sell well enough that it's considered a viable platform and regarded as an actual competitor.

We have the Xbox360, but I don't really consider it a true competitor to the Wii because those two systems aren't really seen as inhabiting the same market space. The primary problem is how poorly it's done in Japan. The fact that the system is virtually nonexistent in one of the biggest gaming markets in the world means it's always going to lose out when it comes to variety of games. Clearly, the Xbox360 has fared far better than the original Xbox, but I still see it as potentially ending up in the same situation as the Sega Genesis relative to the SNES.

The Xbox360 certainly is significant and it may turn out to be more of a challenge to Nintendo than we realize now, but it's going to require more than Halo 3 and other such games to accomplish that. But, like I've said, they've likely already lost the Japanese market. The saving grace is that Japanese companies keep developing games for the system.

The PS3 has the potential to be a competitor for both consoles because of the potential for such a variety of games, at least if it sees anything like the sort of development the PS2 has. The PS2 really had games of all types and some were truly innovative. Really the only thing it lacked was anything from Nintendo.

My point here is that if Nintendo returns to the sort of dominance it had in the past it will also revert to the same sort of tactics it used back then, back when they were the heavy-handed monopoly. If it weren't for Nintendo falling behind in the last two generations of consoles we probably wouldn't have seen the DS or the Wii.

Huh. You claim competition is bad, but then you explain how the DS fixed Sony's FMV fetish? I'm not sure I follow.

History has shown that lack of competition in the console market leads to stagnation. The leading console manufacturer is always the last to change console generations. Without the Genesis, there would not have been a SNES. Without the PS1, no N64. Without the Dreamcast, there would not have been a PS2. Without the 360, we'd still be waiting for a successor to the PS2.

I've come to the conclusion that the PS3 will start catching up around 2008. Because by then any combination of factors below will come to light.
A) they will have thier act together and build a equal to Microsofts XNA tools for developers
B) Enough Games will have caught onto the system that people will actually want to buy it.
C) Sony might release the lockdown access to the video for linux so that games can be made for the linux portion of the PS3
D) Sony will have figured out the right addons to th

Because, wishful thinking or not it's a rather logical order.Most likely order of events that I envision.

A) Sony releases exclusive (God of war, Grand Tourismo, Etc. )A.2) Third party releases of say a home or business control center system using a PS3 as the center hub for Media, computer, security, IPTV, gaming. (remember the cell can be used for many many things other than just games. When sony figures that out they can expand the living daylights out of thier market to do a lot more than just games whi

There's a problem with your item "B". Sony has lost billions and billions of dollars developing, marketing and selling the PS3, and furthermore have stated in their financial report that they want to increase profit. Dropping the price of the PS3 doesn't sound like it would help Sony with those two problems, it's more likely that any cost savings would be used to decrease the enormous pile of money they've thrown out there. Also remember that Sony has tons of PS3 in inventory which cost a lot of money to pr

You are correct on B. I doubt Microsoft or Nintendo would allow a price drop go unanswered. But, that is only one part of a mulipart strategy. The PS3 is multifunctional. It can be programmed to do so many things that it's only just a matter of adding enough market to it so it sells. At that point the PS3 basically becomes what the 360 was shooting for. A mulifunction system that does everything you want it to. Movies, Music, Games, Security, Answering Machine, Email Server, Etc.

If Sony can pull that, I congratulate them, but so far I haven't even seen them guaranteeing the PS3 will have enough good games... And believe it or not, games are the main reason for people to buy a PS3, they don't buy one for using as a coffee or beer machine...

B.2) Sony keeps price keeps the quality high and continues expanding third party apps for PS3 cell abilities. The system is powerful enough to run the electronics behind a theme park for 1/4 of the price of a customized system.

Huh. I don't even know what this is supposed to mean. Sony keeps expanding third-party apps? Huh? Sony ports third-party apps to the PS3?

C) sales increase quickly

No reason for this to happen. In fact, sales are decreasing, which means 3rd-party-support will decrease, which means even less sales.

... while at the same time being more difficult to program for than any of those multicore PC chips. And btw, Sony's mistakes go farther than marketing and high-level decision making, read this hilarious article:

Sorry, I'm having trouble reading this. You opened a bunch of tags instead of closing them. Let me just say that comparing the PS3 to the 360 is a bad idea. The 360 is a miserable failure. It had the whole next-gen market to itself for a whole year, it has tons of A-List titles from all kinds of genres, yet it still does not manage to outsell the original Xbox.Yes. The PS3 will probably catch up with the 360 within a few years. That's not success, that's a disgrace. It should have outsold the 360 within a y

Yeah, I think we've already established that you're financially invested in Sony. Which explains your strange arguments.This is an entirely different argument, but I'd like to go into it anyway since you bring it up. You say that you think it was wrong for Microsoft to kill the Xbox since it was starting to gain ground. I can't see that. Microsoft had two very good reasons for killing the Xbox: First, it was entrenched in the hardcore market. The size, the looks, the games, the people who bought an Xbox, al

Isn't the S. Korean console market typically not a big winner since they are historically PC gamers primarily? I believe they have (had?) ridiculous tariffs related to (Japanese) video game consoles, leaving pretty much no competition for the PC market. The news reads to me as 'Sony releases their floundering console to an uninterested market'